1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clothing iron and more particularly to a clothing iron comprising a sole of a particular shape.
2. Description of the Prior Art
French patent #2 752 853, filed by the applicant, discloses a clothing iron comprising a sole having a central recess bounded on its entire periphery by a sliding surface coming in contact with cloth, wherein the recess and the sliding surface are equipped with numerous steam exit holes. Such a sole has the advantage of enabling the creation of a steam cushion in the cavity formed by the recess, enabling a more efficient dispensing of the steam to the cloth, and of possessing a smaller sliding surface, which in turn reduces friction. In particular this document teaches that a sliding surface representing at least 60% of the total surface of the sole is sufficient for ensuring proper drying of the cloth, the sole illustrated in FIG. 1 having a sliding surface representing around 75% of the total surface.
Such a clothing iron sole, however, has the disadvantage of being relatively expensive to manufacture for achieving ironing performances that are only slightly better than those achieved with less expensive to manufacture, standard flat soles.
The object of the present invention is to propose a steam iron comprising a pressing sole capable of achieving notably improved ironing performances. Another object of the invention is to propose a clothing iron capable of achieving better ironing performances with less energy expenditure.